ALDORITHM

Indulging ze sweet tooth!

Nothing beats a batch of freshly baked cookies. Whether it’s from Micha’s Los Baños or Mrs. Fields, it’s hard to pass up on this sweet treat once the aroma grabs you. Unlike Micha’s or Mrs. Fields though, Famous Amos doesn’t specialize in the soft, chewy variety. The factory-baked, packed-and-sealed Famous Amos is just all right but the freshly baked cookies from the Famous Amos shop are something else.

You can take your pick from five cookie types: no-nut chocolate chip, macadamia chocolate chip, chocolate chip pecan, double chocolate chip, and butterscotch chip pecan. I got 200 grams of no-nut chocolate chip and double chocolate chip; the cookie bag is almost empty now!

I’d seen a lot of J. Co cafés over the past few years but never really bothered to enter one until today when I saw that it offered frozen yogurt. Incidentally, I was also told of its prized donuts so I had to make time for coffee there this afternoon. I have to say…

J. Co did not disappoint. The donuts were amazing.

So amazing that I didn’t mind getting three donuts when I only ordered for two. Apparently, you get a free donut when you get a coffee, but how was I to know! Anyway, I think the measure of the awesomeness of any donut brand lies in its humblest hoop, which is usually the glazed. I thought nothing could come close to Krispy Kreme’s glazed but one bite into J. Co’s version had me wanting more. (Thank godz for the free donut!) I think this is how the glazed donut should be: sweet but not too sweet (Krispy Kreme’s is a little too sweet), poofy, soft, and, most importantly, melt-in-your-mouth. It was so good that I wanted to nab the one the person at the other table left untouched on his plate.

But the crew member got to it first. (What was that customer thinking?)

The other donut I got, Cheese Me Up, was also very good but it had the disadvantage of being sampled after the amazing glazed. The coffee-of-the-day (which they like to call COD) was all right. (I’ll write about the frozen yogurt in another entry.)

It was a crowded afternoon at the coffee shop but I was still able to read my book in peace. Aside from the good food (which was reasonably priced, might I add), what made this coffee experience a little more special were the little details about the place.

Like the tables — each one depicts a J. Co donut and a short, creative description.

And the little notes on the J. Co napkins and donut sheets. (I find that these details do matter!)

And the interiors were a sight to behold too. Just take a gander at those lights!

FCUKING COFFEE MUGS. Who thinks of that?!

My first Lomography camera was a gift; the next one, an online purchase. Over the years they’ve given me immense joy (and frustration) but I’ve always wondered what it’s like to enter a real, authentic Lomography store. I’d seen photos online and they all looked like candy stores in that you simply couldn’t leave without buying something, anything.

The Lomo craze has especially heightened over the past years with the availability of cameras and paraphernalia in Team Manila, Fully Booked, and Cubao Expo shops. I think it’s great that the products are more accessible now but I still think there’s no greater joy than buying your Lomography camera in person, at a Lomography store.   

Well, I finally realized this “dream” a few days ago when I got to step inside one!

Another food post.

First off: microwave popcorn is UNHEALTHFUL and you know that.

Now that that’s out of the way, how can you simply resist microwave popcorn as sinful as this? THIS Orville Redenbacher is gluttony at its finest! Orville was the first microwave popcorn I tasted, way back in 2000. In the early noughties, I used to get this particular variety (and its counterpart pour-over butter) at South Supermarket. But then they suddenly stopped appearing on the shelves and the taste of hot popcorn smothered with cheese/butter soon became a distant memory. So you can just imagine my joy when I spotted this at the grocery store yesterday!

Naturally, good popcorn must be accompanied by good drinks:

Food edition! (And oh, this is my 100th post!)

Blue Ocean! That’s blueberry soda with mango syrup and seed-like jelly thingies (I’m sorry I will find out what those are!).

Orientalia pizza, which was surprisingly very delicious. This is full-on Asian pizza with broccoli, crab sticks, tofu, fish, and sweet Asian sauce. Doesn’t sound very appetizing for what is traditionally known (and loved) as an Italian dish but it was really, really good. 

An ice cream parlor! But I didn’t get ice cream here.

We got ice cream here! But my sister beat me to the flavor of the month, Global Cooling Crunch. (When with company, I like for us to get different flavors.) This was, without question, the best ice cream I’ve had this year! It’s “roasted chestnut ice cream swirled with a caramel ribbon and chocolate-covered honeycomb candies.” The medley of the flavors made for one very gratifying treat.